Britney Spears’ father has agreed to stand down as the pop star’s conservator, promising to participate in an “orderly transition” to a new legal arrangement.
The singer’s lawyer said it was “a major victory” and “another step toward justice”, however, lawyers for James Spears – known as Jamie - said there are “no actual grounds” for him to relinquish the role.
According to court filings seen by CNN, he “does not believe that a public battle with his daughter over his continuing service as her conservator would be in her best interests” and “intends to work with the court and his daughter’s new attorney to prepare for an orderly transition to a new conservator”.
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The singer’s career has been in the hands of legal guardians since 2008 when a court-ordered agreement was imposed amid concerns over the singer's mental health.
Her battle against the court order is being backed by a grassroots movement of fans known as the #FreeBritney campaign that gained renewed public attention following the release earlier this year of the documentary Framing Britney Spears.
Timeline of Britney Spears’ conservatorship
31 January 2008
Following several now-infamous incidents - including shaving her hair off in front of 70 photographers - the 26-year-old Spears is put under a temporary “5150 hold” in a Los Angeles psychiatric hospital. A 5150 hold, which refers to a section of California’s Welfare and Institutions Code, can be enacted if a person is a danger to themselves, to others, or they are “gravely disabled”.
1 February 2008
James Spears is given control of his daughter’s affairs and financial assets under a temporary conservatorship.
26 July 2008
Spears and her ex-husband Kevin Federline agree to a child custody settlement, awarding Federline full custody of sons Sean Preston and Jayden James, and permitting Spears to three visits a week. Spears had initially lost custody and visitation rights to her children in January.
16 September 2008
The singer’s mother Lynne Spears published Through The Storm, including details of events in the run-up to Britney’s “breakdown”.
28 October 2008
The temporary conservatorship over Spears is made permanent, giving her father control of the singer’s personal and financial affairs indefinitely. Judge Reva Goetz said: “The conservatorship is necessary and appropriate for the complexity of financial and business entities and her being susceptible to undue influence,” ABC News reports.
30 November 2008
The MTV documentary Britney: For The Record is released. “I’ve been through a lot in the last two or three years,” she tells the interviewer, as film crews follow Spears through the preparation of her sixth studio album, Circus. “I’m sad,” she tells viewers.
May 2012
Simon Cowell announces that Spears will be a judge on the US edition of The X Factor. As a business decision, the deal was agreed with her conservators and sanctioned by a judge, with the star signing up for one season of the show.
December 2013
Spears begins her residency in Las Vegas at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. “The pop star has signed up to perform 50 shows in 2014 and 2015,” the BBC reports, with more than 4,000 fans attending the opening performance. In 2017, Forbes reports that the residency has grossed more than $103m during its three-year run.
2 November 2017
Comedians Tess Barker and Barbara Gray begin the Britney’s Gram podcast, analysing Spears’ Instagram posts in the weekly episodes.
18 October 2018
An event where Spears is expected to announce her next Las Vegas residency is described as “a complete mess” by Forbes. The singer makes one appearance during the event, and does not perform or speak throughout.
November 2018
Jamie Spears’ colon ruptures and he is hospitalised for 28 days. In the same month, the payment that Wallet receives for his role as co-conservator is increased to $426,000 a year.
4 January 2019
The singer cancels her Domination residency due to her father’s ill health. “I had to make the difficult decision to put my full focus and energy on my family at this time,” she says on Instagram.
March 2019
Wallet resigns as co-conservator. “He did not provide a specific reason for his resignation,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
3 April 2019
Variety reports that Spears has “checked into a psychiatric facility after suffering from emotional distress”. She spends 30 days in the facility, posting on Instagram that she was taking “me time”.
16 April 2019
The Britney’s Gram podcast episode #FreeBritney is released, featuring an “anonymous tip” from someone claiming to be a paralegal previously involved with Spears’ conservatorship. “The voice mail raised concerns about Spears’s well-being and personal autonomy,” The New York Times reports.
7 May 2019
The singer's mother, Lynne, files legal motions “to be kept informed of all matters regarding the singer’s conservatorship”, NBC News reports.
4 September 2019
Kevin Federline takes out a restraining order against Jamie Spears after an alleged altercation between him and his grandson Sean Preston in August.
9 September 2019
Jamie Spears is temporarily replaced by Jodi Montgomery, an experienced conservator, regarding Britney’s person due to health reasons. He remains the conservator of his daughter’s financial assets.
14 July 2020
The Blast reports that Lynne Spears files documents to be included in decisions related to her daughter’s SJB Revocable Trust, a fund created in 2004 to protect her financial assets for her children.
1 August 2020
Jamie Spears refers to members of the #FreeBritney movement as “conspiracy theorists” in an interview with The Post. “I love my daughter,” he says, “but this is our business. It’s private.” He denies allegations of stealing money from his daughter.
August 2020
The singer’s sister Jamie Lynn Spears requests that money in a fund set up by Britney for her children be transferred to accounts for which Jamie Lynn is the custodian. After being named a trustee of Spears’ estate in 2018, Jamie Lynn “already has some say over her sister’s finances”, the BBC reports.
2 September 2020
Spears’ attorney Samuel D. Ingham III tells a court that “Britney herself is vehemently opposed to this effort by her father to keep her legal struggle hidden away in the closet as a family secret”. In what the Los Angeles Times describes as the #FreeBritney movement’s “biggest endorsement”, Ingham said “Britney welcomes and appreciates the informed support of her many fans”.
10 November 2020
Ingham’s request that James Spears be suspended from his role in Spears’ conservatorship is denied by judge Brenda Penny. “My client has informed me that she is afraid of her father,” Ingham told the court. “She will not perform again if her father is in charge of her career.” The singer’s request that Bessemer Trust serve as co-conservator of Spears’ estate with her father is approved.
16 December 2020
A judge rules to extend Spears’ conservatorship to 3 September 2021.
5 February 2021
The New York Times documentary Framing Britney Spears is released, documenting the singer’s rise to fame as a child star to the moment her father took control of her affairs in 2008, and the unfolding events since. In the documentary, the paper’s senior editor Liz Day says that flaws in Britney’s conservatorship case “could reveal flaws in the bigger conservatorship system”.
11 February 2021
James Spears’ objections to the delegation of conservator powers between himself and Bessemer Trust were denied by a judge. Control over Spears’ investments will be managed between the co-conservators.
25 March 2021
Ingham files a petition for Jodi Montgomery to permanently replace James Spears as conservator over Spears’ person.
31 March 2021
Spears writes in an Instagram post that she “cried for two weeks” after Framing Britney Spears was released. “I’ve always been so judged… insulted… and embarrassed by the media…” she said.
28 April 2021
Ingham requests a hearing be scheduled so that Spears can “address the court directly” about her conservatorship. The hearing is scheduled for 23 June 2021 in Los Angeles.
23 June 2021
Speaking publicly for the first time about her conservatorship, Spears makes a plea to Judge Brenda Penny, saying: “I need your help.” During a 23-minute statement, Spears accused her father of abusing his powers over her person and estate, and said she wishes “for all of this to end.”
“It’s embarrassing and demoralising what I’ve been through, and that’s the main reason I didn’t say it openly,” Spears says. “I didn’t think anybody would believe me.” Around 120 members of the #FreeBritney campaign group attended a demonstration outside the courtroom.
13 August 2021
Jamie Spears agrees to step down as her legal guardian after 13 years. A court filing obtained by CNN states that “he does not believe that a public battle with his daughter over his continuing service as her conservator would be in her best interests”.
Following the announcement, Britney posts “FREEDOM” on her Instagram account. Underneath a video clip of her dancing, she adds: “You can see the last dance in red top [sic] I’m very hesitant when dancing, but letting go is freedom!!!!”
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